Irish outlast Red Storm in second half

The St. John’s women’s basketball team tried to do somethingTuesday night that they had not done in 13 tries against NotreDame: win.

Unfortunately for the Red Storm, their dreams of an upset werecrushed with a little over four minutes to play as Notre Dame’sJenka Joyce (15points) hit a three-pointer with four seconds on theshot clock, extending the Notre Dame (16-8, 9-3) to six.

Joyce’s fifth three-pointer of the game sparked a 17-7 ND runthat finished off the Storm (9-14, 3-9), 69-56 in front of 591 atAlumni Hall.

“It’s tough for the kids sometimes because we’re so close, we’reso close, we’re so close but we are not coming out with thevictory,” St. John’s head coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “We justhave to keep learning from it and getting better and better andbetter.”

The loss marked the second time the Red Storm has failed to winits tenth game of the season, a mark the players are not tooconcerned with.

“We’d like to get past 10,” senior guard Shemika Stevens said.”We don’t pay attention to double-digit wins. We are just trying towin games.”

St. John’s was led by freshman Angie Clark and Stevens, with theformer scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, her ninthdouble-double of the season.

“The last couple of games I haven’t been playing like I shouldbe playing,” said Clark who has been honored by the conference fivetimes as Big East Freshman of the Week. “As I go along in practicethings are getting better and better so now I have more confidencein my game.”

While the home team shot a blistering 54 percent in the first 20minutes, the visitors’ defense held St. John’s to just 31 percentin the second stanza. ND’s size advantage and clutch shootingfinally wore the Storm down.

“They made some big shots with the clock winding down,” BarnesArico said. “We did a nice job of playing defense and they’d get abig shot to fall or they’d get a put-back.”

Led by Teresa Borton (10 points, 11 rebounds) and Le’TaniaSevere (10 points and 10 rebounds), ND recorded 20 second chancepoints and out rebounded St. John’s 45-34.

In defeat, the Red Storm played with tremendous energy andheart. Whether it be freshman Danielle Chambers diving for a looseball in front of the St. John’s bench or senior Nora Gyuris takinga charge, the Storm played intense basketball.

“Last game against Miami we ended the game like that,” Stevenssaid. “We just wanted to pick up with the same intensity.”

After playing at Villanova on Feb. 21, St. John’s welcomesBoston College on Feb. 25., hoping to secure a spot in the Big EastTournament.

From there, the Red Storm will play at Madison Square Garden onFeb. 29.